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A wall of TVs, from the 2012 CES.

Ahead of next week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas - or as the giant show prefers to be called, the International CES - the gadget industry got some very bad news: the Grinch stole Christmas.

According to the market research firm the NPD Group, overall consumer spending fell 7% in the pre-Christmas holiday selling season, and sales got worse as the period went along. Sales were down 3.7% from 2011 levels in the first two weeks, while falling 11% in the last three weeks.

“For the third consecutive year sales trends worsened in the later part of the holiday season,” Stephen Baker, vice president, industry analysis at NPD, said in a statement. “The hyped-up promotion of Black Friday, Cyber Monday and now Thanksgiving Day has proven remarkably effective in moving sales into the early part of the holiday season. Trends like online shopping and self-gifting have intensified the focus on the more event -driven early part of the holiday season.”

NPD noted that "most categories struggled, as they have done all year." The big sellers were notebook computers and flat-panel TVs, both of which exceeded $2 billion in total sales, while no other single segment accounted for over $1 billion - but even those categories weakened from last year.

Flat-panels were down 1.5% in units, while ASPs dropped more than 8%. Screens 50 inches or larger grew 46% in units, but a more modest 19% in revenues, as prices fell sharply. In the 40-49 inch category, sales fell 29% in units and 36% in revenue. Sales of TVs below 30 inches fell 24%.

Microsoft Windows 8 had little impact on PC sales. Notebook units sales were down 11%, while ASPs inched up a paltry $2 to $420. Touchscreen notebooks were just 4.5% of Windows 8 sales. Notebooks priced under $500 were down 16% in units, while those above $500 increased 4%. Macbook sales were down 6%, but ASPs rose almost $100 to $1,419.